BASEBALL : Jackson’s Salary, Injury Obscure the Real Problem With Royals

This is not an attempt to add insult to injury. Nor are we suggesting that it was the pivotal factor in the Kansas City Royals’ stunning decision to release Bo Jackson.

The likelihood is that there wasn’t only one pivotal factor, a hidden agenda behind the gloomy medical reports and attempt to save five-sixths of Jackson’s $2.4-million salary.

The physical and fiscal factors were obviously significant, but it should be known that the Kansas City decision didn’t start and stop with the obvious.

In fact, it might have only provided the Royals with what they believed to be a justifiable cover, a literal crutch, for releasing Jackson.

The point is that despite his magnificent skills and still untapped potential, the Royals have been growing nervous and concerned about a sense of festering unrest among his teammates, slowly tiring of what they believed to be his preferential treatment.

“It’s been apparent for some time that the Royals have allowed the tail to wag the dog, and it had to stop,” a former Kansas City player and coach said after Jackson’s release.

Put another way by a member of the Kansas City management: “We’ll be better off without him. We’ll have 25 players going in the same direction rather than one of the 25 setting his own course.”

As it was, the Royals were simply slaves to Jackson’s immense ability.

They allowed him to miss flights in order to film commercials, to decide virtually on his own when he played and when he didn’t, when he was injured and when he wasn’t. The three times Jackson sought the R & R of the disabled list in his five seasons with the Royals all came after the All-Star break, when he may have either been gearing up or down for football.

Jackson’s schedule was his own, and there was little Manager John Wathan could do to change it. There was also fear in the front office that some of the players--Danny Tartabull’s name was frequently mentioned--might begin to think this is the way it should be and expect the same treatment.

There was the risk of jealousy, envy and contempt, and there was also a paralysis in the front office’s attempts to talk Jackson into playing only baseball.

“If he had gone to the winter leagues just once or twice,” General Manager Herk Robinson said Tuesday, alluding to Bo’s potential, “he may have been the greatest player ever.”

Said John Schuerholz, former Royal general manager and now general manager of the Atlanta Braves: “I don’t know how many times we talked to his agent or had staff meetings in which we discussed the likelihood of a serious injury the longer he exposed himself to the physical demands of football.

“It was a selfish perspective because we didn’t want to lose a great talent, but there was frustration in it, too, because we knew what Bo might do playing just the one sport.”

Kansas City owner Ewing Kaufmann recently sold a percentage of his Marion Laboratories for $800 million. He has plunged into free agency in a reckless attempt to produce another winner, signing Kirk Gibson and Mike Boddicker this year after the lamentable signings of Mark Davis and Storm Davis last year. He has retained Bret Saberhagen and Mark Gubicza with long-term contracts and is currently renegotiating George Brett’s contract.

Yes, Jackson would have been eligible for free agency after the 1991 season, but considering Kaufmann’s other investments, he wasn’t going to be deterred by the economics of the Jackson situation. After all, he might still have to pay his full 1991 salary, pending a possible inquiry by the players union.

The bottom line--part of it, at least--is that the Royals quietly considered Bo more liability than asset. The tail won’t be wagging the dog anymore, but it will be interesting to see if the dog, minus Jackson’s bat, is more bark than bite.